Lewis Hamilton: Storm better than iPhone

TechRadar speaks to the youngest F1 world champion

TechRadar was at Vodafone's launch of the new BlackBerry Storm 9500 handset this morning, and we got a chance to quiz Lewis Hamilton on how he found the latest addition to the BlackBerry family.

"I have looked at the iPhone, but with the BlackBerry Storm you actually have to press the screen to press the buttons," Hamilton said, somewhat obviously,

"For me, I like the Storm, it feels faster, smaller and lighter," he added. "I have pretty much mastered the keyboard, so I can talk to you while sending a message to my brother and say I am talking to Stevie [Steve Ryder, the presenter for the event]."

Storm over the iPhone

Although it was hardly a surprise that Hamilton was enamoured by the handset, given the event was thrown by Vodafone, the title sponsor for his McLaren Mercedes team, he still was quick to highlight an advantage the Storm has over Apple's offering.

Hamilton has been using the handset for two weeks, and it was part of his kit during the final F1 Grand Prix of the season where he clinched the title.

"I had around 200 emails and messages waiting for me on the Storm after the race," he admitted.

Would he have managed to win without RIM's first touchscreen handset giving him the chance to receive all these messages? Yes, obviously, but it's nice to know it was there...